As soon as we finished picking the last of the blackberries, we started cutting out the old fruiting canes and tying up the new canes for next year’s crop.
While the root system and crown of blackberry bushes are perennial, the canes of the plant are biennial. During the first year of the cane’s life cycle (primocane year), it grows and initiates fruit buds. The second year (floricane year), the canes will bloom and set fruit, then die once the fruit is ripe. Primocanes and floricanes are present at the same time in a bramble patch. So we are currently cutting out the dead floricanes, and tying up the primocanes for next year. It takes two people about three hours to clean up a row of 100 bushes.
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
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| Debris in the Middle |
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| Still found some berries |
